Tonight I Said Goodbye

Investigator Wayne Weston is found dead of an apparent suicide in his home in an upscale Cleveland suburb, and his wife and six-year-old daughter are missing. Weston’s father insists that private investigators Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard take the case to exonerate his son and find his granddaughter and daughter-in-law. As they begin to work, they discover there is much more to the situation than has been described in the prevalent media reports.

Envy the Night

It has been seven years since Frank Temple III joined the rest of the world in learning his father's bloody secret: The U.S. marshal maintained a covert career as a contract killer, a double-life that ended in suicide to avoid prosecution and prison. The shocking revelation triggered years of anonymous drifting for Frank, time spent running from his legacy and struggling to believe that the father he'd loved so dearly was entirely in the wrong.

The Prophet

Adam Austin hasn't spoken to his brother in years. When they were teenagers, their sister was abducted and murdered, and their devastated family never recovered. Now Adam keeps to himself, scraping by as a bail bondsman. Kent Austin is the beloved coach of the local high school football team, a religious man and hero in the community. After years of near misses, Just before playoffs begin, the town and the team are thrown into shock when horrifically, impossibly, another teenage girl is found murdered.

Rise the Dark

Rise the dark. These were the last words written in Lauren Novak's notebook before she was murdered in a strange Florida village. They've never meant anything to the police or to her husband, investigator Markus Novak. Now the man he believes killed her is out of prison and draws Markus to the place he's avoided for so long: the lonely road where his wife was shot to death beneath the cypress trees and Spanish moss in a town called Cassadaga.

Last Words

Markus Novak just wants to come home. An investigator for a Florida-based death-row defense firm, Novak's life derailed when his wife, Lauren, was killed in the midst of a case the two were working together. Two years later her murderer is still at large, and Novak's attempts to learn the truth about her death through less-than-legal means and jailhouse bargaining have put his job on the line.

The Cypress House

Arlen Wagner has an awful gift: he can see death in the eyes of men before it strikes. He's never wrong. So when Arlen awakens on a train one hot Florida night and sees death's telltale sign in the eyes of his fellow passengers, he tries to warn them. Only 19-year-old Paul Brickhill believes him, and the two abandon the train, hoping to escape certain death. They continue south, but soon are stranded at The Cypress House - an isolated Gulf Coast boarding house run by the beautiful Rebecca Cady - directly in the path of an approaching hurricane.

So Cold the River

It started with a documentary. The beautiful Alyssa Bradford approaches Eric Shaw to unearth the life story of her father-in-law, Campbell Bradford, a 95-year-old billionaire whose childhood is wrapped in mystery. Eric grabs the job, even though the only clues to Bradford's past are his hometown and an antique water bottle he's kept his entire life. In Bradford's hometown, Eric discovers an extraordinary past.

The Ridge

In an isolated stretch of eastern Kentucky, on a hilltop known as Blade Ridge, stands a lighthouse that illuminates nothing but the surrounding woods. For years the lighthouse has been considered no more than an eccentric local landmark - until its builder is found dead at the top of the light, and his belongings reveal a troubling local history.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye: A Harry Bosch Novel, Book 21

Harry Bosch is California's newest private investigator. He doesn't advertise, he doesn't have an office, and he's picky about who he works for, but it doesn't matter. His chops from 30 years with the LAPD speak for themselves. Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire has less than six months to live and a lifetime of regrets. He hires Bosch to find out whether he has an heir.

The Only Suspect

Doctor Sam Russell's wife is missing. The police don't believe his story - and Sam isn't so sure himself since he can remember nothing about the day she disappeared.Detective Hannah Montgomery sees something in Sam and his young daughter that touches her own sense of loss. As she delves deeper, shocking secrets come to light making Hannah wonder whether she's protecting a wronged man or a cold-blooded killer.

Those Who Wish Me Dead

When 13-year-old Jace Wilson witnesses a brutal murder, he's plunged into a new life, issued a false identity and hidden in a wilderness skills program for troubled teens. The plan is to get Jace off the grid while police find the two killers. The result is the start of a nightmare. The killers, known as the Blackwell Brothers, are slaughtering anyone who gets in their way in a methodical quest to reach him.

Charles Atkinson says:"2 Creepy, Killer Brothers Make for Great Suspense"

Fool Me Once

Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya's husband, Joe - who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to?

The Love Killings: Detective Matt Jones, Book 2

For the past six weeks, LAPD detective Matt Jones has been recovering from the wrong end of a hit man's bullet. Before he can look for payback, Jones finds himself enlisted in the manhunt for an old foe. Dr. George Baylor, the serial killer who escaped after murdering three coeds in LA, resurfaces on the East Coast. This time, an entire family has been slaughtered in their home outside Philadelphia, and the doctor's fingerprints are all over the crime scene.

Orphan X

Evan Smoak is a man with skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. He's also a man with a dangerous past. Chosen as a child, he was raised and trained as part of the off-the-books black box Orphan program, designed to create the perfect deniable intelligence assets - i.e. assassins. He was Orphan X. Evan broke with the program, using everything he learned to disappear.

Never Love a Stranger

Never Love a Stranger, still considered one of Robbins' most powerful books, tells the story of Francis "Frankie" Kane, an orphan growing up in the dirty world of New York's Hell's Kitchen. After being kicked out of a Catholic orphanage when it is discovered that he is of Jewish descent, a confused and deeply distraught Frankie turns to a life of crime, the only life he knows, and he's good at it.

Flat Spin: A Cordell Logan Mystery

The irresistible David Freed’s first mystery is a stay-up-late-to-finish thriller. Based in sunny Rancho Bonita - “California’s Monaco”, as the city’s moneyed minions like to call it - Cordell Logan is a literate, sardonic flight instructor and aspiring Buddhist with dwindling savings and a shadowy past. When his beautiful ex-wife, Savannah, shows up out of the blue to tell him that her husband has been murdered in Los Angeles, Logan is quietly pleased. Savannah’s late husband, after all, is Arlo Echevarria, the man she left Logan for.

A Case of Redemption

A high-profile attorney in the middle of a leave of absence following a personal tragedy is drawn back into the legal arena amidst a media firestorm when he agrees to represent a popular rap artist accused of brutally murdering his pop star girlfriend. With its powerful voice, pause-resisting tension, and strong cast of characters, Adam Mitzner’s novels are reminiscent of such best-selling authors as Scott Turow and John Grisham.

Japantown: A Thriller

In this "sophisticated international thriller" (The New York Times Book Review), an American antiques dealer turned reluctant private eye must use his knowledge of Japanese culture to unravel a major murder in San Francisco - before he and his daughter become targets themselves. San Francisco antiques dealer Jim Brodie receives a call one night from a friend at the SFPD: An entire family has been senselessly gunned down in the Japantown neighborhood of the bustling city.

No Man's Land: John Puller Series

John Puller's mother disappeared nearly 30 years ago. Despite an intensive search and investigation, she was never seen again. But new allegations have come to light suggesting that Puller's father - now suffering from dementia and living in a VA hospital - may have murdered his wife. Puller is officially barred from working on the case and faces a potential court-martial if he disobeys the order, but he knows he can't sit this investigation out.

Safe House

When Rob Hale wakes up in hospital after a motorcycle crash, he is told that Lena - the gorgeous blonde woman who was on the back of his bike - doesn't exist. The woman he describes bears a striking resemblance to his recently deceased sister, Laura, but has he really only imagined her? Convinced that Lena is as real as he is, Rob teams up with Rebecca Lewis - a London-based PI who has a mysterious connection to Laura - to follow the clues. He learns that even a close-knit community like the Isle of Man can hide dangerous secrets that will not stay safe forever.

Night School: A Jack Reacher Novel, Book 21

It's 1996, and Reacher is still in the army. In the morning they give him a medal, and in the afternoon they send him back to school. That night he's off the grid. Out of sight, out of mind. Two other men are in the classroom - an FBI agent and a CIA analyst. Each is a first-rate operator, each is fresh off a big win, and each is wondering what the hell they are doing there. Then they find out: A jihadist sleeper cell in Hamburg, Germany, has received an unexpected visitor - a Saudi courier seeking safe haven while waiting to rendezvous with persons unknown.

Home: Myron Bolitar Series, Book 11

A decade ago, kidnappers grabbed two boys from wealthy families and demanded ransom, then went silent. No trace of the boys ever surfaced. For 10 years their families have been left with nothing but painful memories and a quiet desperation for the day that has finally, miraculously arrived: Myron Bolitar and his friend Win believe they have located one of the boys, now a teenager. Where has he been for 10 years, and what does he know about the day, more than half a life ago, when he was taken?

Ricki says:"I have so missed Myron and Win and now they are back. Yeah"

Bad Country

Rodeo Grace Garnet lives alone, save for his old dog, in a remote corner of Arizona known to locals as the Hole. He doesn't get many visitors, but a body found near his home has drawn police attention to his front door. The victim is not one of the many illegal immigrants who risk their lives to cross the border just south of the Hole, but is instead a member of one of the local Indian tribes.

DanBudda says:"Wow!! Please give this book a chance to knock you off your feet!"

The Black Echo: Harry Bosch Series, Book 1

For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch - hero, maverick, nighthawk - the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal. The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell.

Publisher's Summary

The third novel by award-winning mystery writer Michael Koryta featuring private investigator Lincoln Perry. Once a rising star on the Cleveland police force, Perry ended his career when he left one of the city’s prominent attorneys, Alex Jefferson, bleeding in the parking lot of his country club—retribution for his affair with Perry’s fiancée.

Now Jefferson is dead, the victim of a brutal murder, and his widow has called upon Perry for a favor he knows he shouldn’t grant but can’t turn down: to find Jefferson’s estranged son, partial beneficiary of the dead man’s fortune. The case is simple enough, a routine “locate,” and he’ll be paid plenty of money for the work. The encounter should be simple, too: a brief exchange of information and maybe an empty condolence before Perry gets back into his truck and returns home. Instead, he’s loaded into a police car and taken to a rural jail while Jefferson’s son is zipped into a body bag.

Perry soon learns that Jefferson’s millions are the target of a thirst for revenge that hasn’t been satisfied by blood. As a pair of deadly assailants push deep into the investigator’s life, they bring with them police from two states who are determined to see Perry in jail.

Building on the skill that prompted the Toronto Sun to call him “one of America’s best young mystery writers,” Michael Koryta makes A Welcome Grave an intense exploration of the lengths to which a desperate man is forced to go to clear his name and solve a crime. This is a thrilling new book that justifies the critical acclaim and solidifies his role as an emerging talent among today’s top writers.

Michael Koryta is only 33 years old and has 12 novels! This blows me away. I have only read the first three Lincoln Perry novels (the 4th is in my cue, and then I will venture outward and read one of his other books). In my opinion each of the three Lincoln Perry books is better than the one before.

This latest books forces Lincoln to deal with issues from his past. The case involves the death of Alex Jefferson who was tortured, killed and dumped in a field. The police quickly set their sights on Lincoln as a suspect because Lincoln had a past with Alex who was married to a woman named Kare who was, at one time, engaged to Lincoln. In order to prove himself innocent, Lincoln goes on a hunt for the real killer — hired by Karen!

I will not go any further with the retelling of the story so as not to spoil it for others. But also, I could never do it justice. The characters are fully developed and the plot offers many twists keeping the reader guessing as to who committed the crime. My favorite part of any novel is getting to know the characters. That part is far more important to me than any plot twists. I am a character-driven fan.

Michael Koryta does not disappoint. He lets us explore Lincoln’s thoughts and know his issues. But even better he also allows me to know the characters around him. I am rooting for Lincoln to further explore his relationship with Amy because Mr Koryta has let me get to know her and like her. I am yearning for Joe to return because I think he balances Lincoln and that Lincoln will be less interesting without him.

So, why am I so happy to know that this author is only 33? Because it - hopefully - gives him many, many more years to write and to develop these characters who I am starting to think of as friends.

BTW: I saw one very short review which criticized Scott Brick as the narrator. I disagree. I like his subtlety, and I love his ability to distinguish Lincoln and Joe.

If you could sum up A Welcome Grave in three words, what would they be?

Fast, good adventure. The Ex fiancé got on my nerves, so if that's what the author intended, then it worked.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I liked the story, but I don't think I liked it enough to buy more of this author. It seemed a bit too long for me. All the reviewers loved this author, and I purchased this book due to Scott Brick reading the story. He did a superb job bring all the characters to life, maybe too real of life. Our hero seems to get involved, seems a bit rash, then has a moral dilemma over his decisions. Ok, for me, I think I needed a hero, that has more humor or sarcastic wit.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Lincoln has dialogue with Indiana detective.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

no, but plenty of fast action to keep you interested, make no mistake. This was a good buy on 50% sale and worth the the listen.

This book is the best one so far in the series and I 5 starred the first 2. This series is one of my favorites. It's made even better by Scott Brick. Luckily I have a credit and I'll be downloading the fourth book in a minute.

No problem with holding your attention throughout the entire story. Was disappointed in the main character though. His reactions and decision making were more akin to those of an average person off the street than of an experienced PI/cop.

This was a good story--the characters that were interesting. Since it is the third in a series, it was nice to see some progression and changes in their relationships. This was another fast read but it drags a bit in the end. The story is written so that I found myself doubting there could be a happy ending...good suspense.